The invention relates to a device for orientating the bases and caps of hard gelatin capsules and for feeding these initially separate enclosing elements to a machine for pre-sealing or for filling and sealing the capsules. The device according to the invention can be used with hard gelatin capsules of conventional construction or with capsules of special construction and/or shape, for example those of the SCHERER type.
The device according to the invention is intended to solve a problem which is new in the field of capsules for medicinal use, consisting in the fact that the caps and bases of the capsules are initially separated from each other and are kept loose in corresponding magazines, since the two enclosing elements of the capsules, especially in the case of the aforesaid special capsules, undergo different operations, in the process of their manufacture, such that the said enclosing elements cannot be advantageously pre-assembled using the conventional methods.
The device according to the invention may therefore be used by the manufacturers of special capsules, to enable them to supply the capsules in pre-sealed form to those industries which will carry out the filling of the said capsules with conventional methods and machines, or may be used in combination with a machine for filling and sealing the capsules, in which the bases and caps of the capsules are fed loose in corresponding magazines. In both the first and the second case, the device will orientate the bases of the capsules with the opening facing upwards and will insert each base into a supporting socket, while the caps will be orientated with the opening downwards and will be inserted into a corresponding supporting socket. The sockets containing the caps are located at a higher level than those containing the bases and are preferably disposed with their axes vertical. The sockets containing the bases and the caps are carried by horizontally movable means by means of which the said sockets may be moved out of alignment with each other to permit the operation of the means of feeding the two separate parts of the capsule to the sockets and/or to permit the insertion of doses of a medicinal product and of any plugs or diaphragms into the bases for any known use, or may be aligned axially with each other to enable the base to be fed to the lower socket, with the empty upper socket into which the cap is subsequently to be inserted passing across it, and/or to initiate the final phase of sealing the capsule, with the raising of the empty or full base, the insertion of the base into the cap which is located above it and is temporarily retained by a suitable check piece and with the final raising and lateral expulsion of the sealed capsule.
One object of the present invention is to provide a device for orientating and feeding the bases and caps of the capsules which is of simplified construction and high technological reliability, and may be combined with a high-output enclosing machine of the carousel type.
According to the invention, the bases and caps are fed one at a time to a corresponding vertical seat which contains them with a certain amount of play, and in which they may be orientated with the opening upwards or downwards. This seat is disposed in the intermediate part of a horizontal channel, the section of which up-line from the said seat is engaged slidably by an orientating pusher with a point facing the aforesaid seat. The section of the said horizontal channel disposed down-line from the seat has a width slightly less than that of the outer area of greater width of the cap or base, so that, when the said pusher operates and its point acts on the intermediate part of the base or cap, the rounded end of the component, which has a greater resistance to crushing, encounters a greater sliding friction in the channel, so that, under the action of the point of the pusher, the base or cap of the capsule is orientated with the opening forward and in this condition reaches the terminal part of the orientation channel, with a substantially horizontal disposition. This channel follows a second vertical and ascending channel, whose width is equal to that of the first channel and which terminates in a suitably wider lower section. While the initial orientation pusher withdraws to repeat the cycle, a second pusher comes into operation and, in the case of the base, acts on it with a flat and horizontal or suitably inclined end, so that the base reaches the wider terminal part of the ascending channel where it is picked up by suction by its rounded end and inserted into the corresponding supporting socket, with a vertical disposition and with the opening upwards. The second pusher, which acts on the caps, is instead provided with a point which acts on the intermediate part of the said cap and causes its open end to rotate downwards. The cap reaches the wider terminal part of the second channel with a vertical disposition and with its opening downwards, and from here it is picked up by suitable suction means and inserted by them into the supporting socket lying below.
A further object of the invention is to provide the part of the device which orientates the caps with means which stop the cap at different levels in the first seat of the device, according to the orientation in which the cap reaches the said seat, so that the cap is always correctly disposed with respect to the point of the initial orientation pusher. A further object is to make the said cap stop means adjustable so that it is possible to operate correctly with capsules which are of the same format but may differ slightly in their geometry and/or dimensions.